Ian McMillan
| birth_place = Darfield, Barnsley, Yorkshire | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Poet, journalist, playwright, broadcaster | period = 1980–present | genre = | subject = | website = http://www.uktouring.org.uk/ian-mcmillan/ | portaldisp = y }} Ian McMillan (born 21 January 1956)"Ian McMillan", Peter Forbes, British Council, 2002 is an English poet, journalist, playwright, and broadcaster. He is known for his strong and distinctive Barnsley-area accent and his characteristic manner of speech. He lives in Darfield, the place of his birth."Ian McMillan – The South Bank Show", ITV, 15 July 2007 Life McMillan was born in Darfield, South Yorkshire. He graduated in Modern Studies from North Staffordshire Polytechnic in 1978. He started performing on the live poetry circuit in the 1970s. He has had several volumes of his own poetry published, for both adults and children. He is regarded as an enthusiastic advocate of poetry. In addition he has had journalism published in Q magazine and Mojo magazine, and writes a weekly column in his home town's local newspaper, The Barnsley Chronicle. He is styled "poet in residence" to his hometown football club Barnsley FC. His play Sister Josephine Kicks the Habit, based on the work of fellow Yorkshireman Jake Thackray premiered in 2005. In June 2010 McMillan was appointed poet-in-residence at the English National Opera. TV and radio McMillan hosts the weekly show The Verb ''and Proms variation ''Adverb on BBC Radio 3, "dedicated to investigating spoken words around the globe". He has been described in the BBC's publication Radio Times as the "22nd Most Powerful Person in Radio". He is also a regular roving contributor to BBC Radio 4 Today Programme where he was at one stage dubbed as the programme's "Election Laureate". During January 2007, he presented a BBC Radio 3 series on writing, Ian McMillan's Writing Lab, in which he talked to a range of authors which included Julian Barnes, Mark Ravenhill, Howard Jacobson and Michael Rosen. He has also been a panellist on BBC Radio 4's long-running game show Just A Minute. In November 2010, McMillan was the castaway on the BBC Radio 4 show Desert Island Discs hosted by Kirsty Young. His choice of music included John Cage's silent piece "4’33”" and Andy Stewart singing "Donald Where's Your Troosers?". He is a frequent guest on Newsnight Review, The Mark Radcliffe Show, The Today Programme, You & Yours, The Culture Show, Never Mind The Full Stops and Have I Got News For You?. He narrates The Museum on BBC 2 on Thursdays. He has also been employed to provide voice-overs in advertisements for a laundry detergent and a branded food product. Poetry competitions McMillan is a regular judge of poetry competitions. In December 2006, McMillan judged the "Central Trains Poetry Competition" and the winners, from the Royal Grammar School Worcester, were awarded a signed copy of his poem "Take me on a Christmas Trip on Central Trains" at Birmingham Snow Hill Station.See picture top leftSee picture top rightNews He was also a judge in the Foyle Young Poets Awards 2008, and went as a teacher with the winners for a week to The Hurst, an Arvon centre based in Shropshire, as part of their prize.Foyle Young Poets Press Release 2008 – The Poetry Society He judged the 2009 Cardiff International Poetry Competition for the award ceremony in June. In 2005, as "Poet Laureate" for the "Three Cities" (the "Three Cities" in this case being Nottingham, Leicester and Derby), he was involved in the "Three Cities Create and Connect scheme", which included a regional writing competition. The project resulted in a now-scarce publication, A Tale of 3 Cities : New Writing from Derby, Leicester and Nottingham. McMillan contributed a foreword and two original pieces, "Here.Now.Then" and "The Laureate Reflects" as well as co-authoring (with six regional writers) "Three Cities Chain Poem".Mcmillan and Others, A Tale of Three Cities, Arts Council, 2005 Yorkshire dialect work In 2007, McMillan published a book named Collins' Chelp and Chunter: a Guide to the Tyke Tongue. This was a compilation of words that are used in the Yorkshire dialect as well as a few pieces of Yorkshire humour and illustrations. Many words are pinned down to specific areas of Yorkshire or specific towns or villages; one word, lenerky, that means "soft or floppy", is even ascribed to Grange Moor, a very small village in Kirklees, West Yorkshire near Wakefield between the towns of Barnsley and Huddersfield."Chelp and Chunter: How to Talk Tyke" by Mcmillan Ian McMillan Orchestrahttp://www.theianmcmillanorchestra.com/home.htm Together with the composer Luke Carver Goss, McMillan was the driving force behind The Ian McMillan Orchestra, a music and spoken-word ensemble that released two CDs. The group disbanded in 2012, but McMillan and Goss are continuing to work as a duo. Publications Poetry *''Batteries Not Included: 36 Poems'' (illustrated by Sue Gamson). Leeds, UK: Poetry Leeds, 1980. *''The Changing Problem''. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1980. *''An Anthology from Versewagon'' (by Ian McMillan, John Turner, & Martyn Wiley). Barnsley, UK: Versewagon Press, 1982. *''Now it Can be Told''. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1983. *''How the Hornpipe Failed, and other poems''. London: Rivelin Grapheme, 1984. *''Tall In The Saddle'' (with Martyn Wiley). Huddersfield, UK: Smith / Doorstop Books, 1986. *''A Child's Guide to Ian McMillan'' (with John Harrison). Cardiff: Red Sharks, 1986. *''Selected Poems''. Manchester, UK, & New York: Carcanet, 1987. *''More Poems Please, Waiter, and Quickly!. Stafford, UK: Sow's Ear, 1988. *''Unselected Poems. Huddersfield, UK: Wide Skirt Press, 1988. *''A Chin?: Poems''. Huddersfield, UK: Wide Skirt Press, 1991. *''Yakety-Yakety-Yakety-Yak!: Poems'' (with Martyn Wiley). Retford, UK: Twist In The Tale, 1993. *''Just Like Watching Brazil''. Glasshoughton, Castleford, UK: Yorkshire Art Circus, 1999. *''Talking Myself Home: My life in verses''. London: John Murray, 2008. *''A Tale of Three Cities''(with Les Baynton, David Duncombe and others) Arts Council, 2005 *''This Lake Used to Be Frozen: Lamps''. Sheffield, UK: Smith / Doorstop, 2011. *''The Days Out, The Weeks Away'' (photos by Ian Beesley). Oldham, UK: Incline Press, 2012. Prose *''Dad, the Donkey's On Fire''. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1994. *''Ideas Have Legs: Ian McMillan vs Andy Martin'' (with Andy Martin). London: FUEL, 2006. *''Chelp and Chunter: How to talk tyke'' (illustrated by Alex Collier). London & Glasgow: Collins, 2007. *''The Richard Matthewman Stories'' (with Martyn Wiley). Hebdon Bridge, UK: Pomona, 2009. *''Yorkshire Humour'' (illustrated by Tony Husband). Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK: Dalesman, 2009. *''Daft Yorkshire Fairy Tales'' (illustrated by Tony Husband). Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK: Dalesman, 2012. *''101 Uses for a Flat Cap'' (illustrated by Tony Husband). Skipton, North Yorkshire, UK: Dalesman, 2013. Mixed form *''I Found This Shirt: Poems and prose from the centre''. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1998. *''Perfect Catch: Poems, collaborations, and scripts''. Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 2000. Juvenile *''Overstone'' (with David Harmer and Martyn Wiley) Arnold Wheaton, 1988; Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, UK: Nelson, 1991. *''Elephant Dreams'' (with Paul Cookson and David Harmer; illustrated by Lucy Maddison). Macmillan (Sandwich Poets 3), 1998. *''The Very Best of Ian McMillan: A book of poems'' (illustrated by Chris Smedley). London: Macmillan, 2001. *''The Invisible Villain: Poems'' (illustrated by Allan Rowe). London: Macmillan, 2002. Edited *''Six: The Versewagon Poetry Manual'' (editor & contributor). London: Rivelin Grapheme, 1985. *''Breathless: A Write Around poetry anthology'' (edited with Mark Robinson). Middlesborough, UK: Write Around, 1994. *''Primary Colours: A collection of children't poetry'' (edited with Elizabeth Carter). Leyburn, UK: Swaledale Festival, 1996. *''Exit 21: Poems by members of the Leicester Poetry Society''. Leicester UK: Leicester Poetry Society, 1998. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Ian McMillan, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 9, 2014. Audio / video Audiobooks *''Ian McMilan: Reading from his poems''. London: Poetry Archive, 2005. *''Talking Myself Home: My life in verses''. London: Hachette Digital, 2008. Discography (with The Ian McMillan Orchestra) *''Sharp Stories'', Taith Records, 2007 *''Homing In'', Taith Records, 2011 See also *List of British poets References External links ;Poems *Shed Poems: "The Shed" & "Endless Shedness" ;Prose *Ian McMillan in The Guardian ;Audio / video *Ian McMillan (b. 1956) at The Poetry Archive *Ian McMillan at YouTube ;About *Ian McMillan at the British Council *Biography at LiteraryFestivals.co.uk * Ian McMillan Official website. * [http://www.open2.net/writing/index.html Ian McMillan's Writing Lab] * "Ian McMillan: pieces of me", The Guardian Category:1956 births Category:Alumni of Staffordshire University Category:BBC Radio 3 presenters Category:English dramatists and playwrights Category:English poets Category:People educated at Wath Comprehensive School Category:Living people Category:People from Darfield, South Yorkshire Category:People from Barnsley